Layout Hell
So, Danielle’s down at ORNL, right?
Well, she’s needing some last-minute help doing layout on presentations so that they can be done in time to be presented on Wednesday or whatever.
Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but there were a lot of graphics I had to redo (they were given to me as low res PNGs), charts and tables I had to move from Excel to something vector-based, flowcharts to make, etc.
I’m only done with the first poster, the second one is about half done. I still have to get all the charts into it, get it flowing better, etc. However, if you want to see them, here they are:
· Linking Microbial Diversity and Geochemistry of Uranium-Contaminated Groundwater (Finished — 2.5 MB)
· Screening and Characterization of Soil Microbes Capable of
Degrading Cellulose from Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) (Incomplete Draft — 4.7 MB)
I feel like a hack for using what’s basically the same layout for both, but I figure that the need for these posters is immediate enough that it’s okay for me to do. If I had two weeks and time to think and reanalyze and such they would be a lot better, but this is some stuff with a very immediate need.
A few minutes ago I just realized that I’ve been working on these for about 12 hours and haven’t showered nor brushed my teeth today. Yay!
The background on the second one needs toning down, either by using some alpha blending on the background (~25% of current value) so it looks a bit misty and indistinct, and/or having white panels to make the text and diagrams stand out more.
It’s looking good though so far (the bits I can read). I’ll be around a bit later if you need someone to bounce the second one off. Just need to pop into work to see how my experimental photography is getting on..
Don’t worry about it being hack. It’s information design. It’s main focus is to be clear, easily read and have a clearly defined information hierarchy. Its actually a good idea to use the same or a similar layout for both so that it cues the reader to know exactly where to look for the information they want. For not being a designer…those look pretty damn good. What’s the final size of the printed poster?